Dassault's new Falcon 10X completed its first flight on 19 June. Test pilot Sébastien Dupont de Dinechin and co-pilot Fabrice Dougnac took off from runway 23 at Bordeaux-Mérignac at 11:10 local time. The flight lasted two hours and 30 minutes.
The crew evaluated handling and systems at 15,000 feet. The landing gear and movable surfaces were then retracted. The aircraft climbed to 40,000 feet and reached Mach 0.82. It returned to Bordeaux-Mérignac for landing at 13:40.
The Falcon 10X is powered by twin Rolls-Royce Pearl 10X engines. Each delivers more than 18,000 lb of thrust. The Pearl 10X is the first Rolls-Royce engine to fly on a Dassault business jet. Rolls-Royce logged more than 4,000 hours of ground and flight testing before first flight. That included a six-month Boeing 747 flying testbed campaign covering 36,000 nautical miles.
The Falcon 10X offers 7,500 nautical miles of range at Mach 0.85. Top speed is Mach 0.925. The cabin is 9 ft 1 in wide and 6 ft 8 in tall. Dassault states it has the largest cross-section of any business jet. Entry into service is targeted for late 2027.
The aircraft rolled out at Bordeaux-Mérignac on 10 March 2026. A second test aircraft is nearing completion. A third will follow with a full interior, for systems and cabin reliability work. Eric Trappier, Chairman and Chief Executive of Dassault Aviation, attributed the milestone to engineering, production and flight teams. He also credited the company's global partner network. The 10X enters the ultra-long-range segment alongside the Bombardier Global 7500, Global 8000, Gulfstream G700 and Gulfstream G800.
Source: Dassault Aviation; Rolls-Royce; Aviation International News.